Nook Color owners have one more reason to run into their local Barnes & Noble store these days thanks to the inclusion of a real world element in the latest Angry Birds app which rewards users with a free Mighty Eagle character.

In addition to the free hour of reading that Barnes & Noble gives Nook owners, they will now be handing out virtual goods as part of an Angry Birds Magical Places promo. Starting today, if you take your Nook Color into one of 700 Barnes & Noble stores you can unlock the “Mighty Eagle” character in your Nook Color version of Angry Birds for free. You will need to won the Angry Birds app for the Nook Color which is $2.99.

The Mighty Eagle character is a super-player in the world of Angry birds which can help you get past hard to beat levels or help you beef up your “Eagle Score”. The Mighty Eagle normally costs $.99, but Nook Color owners can unlock the character for free when they visit a store. The character only needs to be unlocked once to be used throughout the game, though you will need to wait for the Mighty Eagle to recharge in between use.

Offering another free service is an interesting way for Barnes & Noble to try to draw users into their retail locations and attract more Nook Color purchases. I’m not sure a 99 cent unlockable is that big of a deal in the long run, but Angry Birds addicts will enjoy this treat if they are close enough to a local store.

Personally I would rather see Barnes & Noble offer a book of the month promotion which delivered a half price book deal if purchased in store or some other type of pricing promotion. These types of promotions would also be more appealing if they included Barnes & Noble owned stores like Books-a-Million, which would expand the reach greatly.

Is a free Mighty Eagle enough to get you off your couch and into a Barnes & Noble?

Josh Smith is Editor of GottaBeMobile and Notebooks.com. He's always looking for ways to help you get the most of your gear and loves to talk about tech on radio and TV. Josh uses an iOS and Android devices as well as Mac and Windows Computers. Josh Smith on Google+
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